Promotional Information

...A comprehensive history of the Society of Friends in the U.S... The authors are careful to explain what Quakers believed at every stage of their development and how they organized their lives around the religious and social movements they fostered or fought against. The second part of this engaging book is a biographical dictionary of Quaker leaders. Reference Books Bulletin

Table of Contents

The Quakers: A History of Friends in America Introduction: The Society of Friends The Religious Setting of the Early Friends The Lamb's War and the Awakening of the North of England Quaker Worship and Ethics and Their Transformation, 1652-1662 The Mission to America England, 1660-1689: Persecution, Theology, and the Universalizing of Truth The Quaker Colonies A Tolerated Sociey of Friends A Spiritual Existence A Disciplined Christian Life Crisis and Reformation The American Revolutions Quaker Migrants to Carolina and the Midwest: Eastern Philanthropists Separations The Midcontinent in the Midcentury, 1828-1867: Gurneyites and Conservatives and Slavery West and Midwest, 1867-1902: Revivals, Holiness, Missions, and Pastors The Liberal Transformation Suburban and College Friends: West and Midwest, 1902-1960 Creativity in Peacemaking Social Service and Social Change, 1902-1970 New Forms of Quaker Interaction, 1960-1987 A Biographical Dictionary of Former Quaker Leaders in America Abbreviations for Standard Sources and Quaker Organizations Bibliography Index

About the Author

HUGH BARBOUR is Professor of Religion at Earlham College and Professor of Church History at Earlham School of Religion. His previous books include Quakers in Puritan England, Slavery and Theology: Writings of Seven Quaker Reformers, and Reading and Understanding the Old Testament.

J. WILLIAM FROST is Howard M. and Charles F. Jenkins Professor of Quaker History and Research and Director of the Friends Historical library, Swarthmore College. He is the author of The Quaker Family in Colonial America and editor of numerous volumes, including Quaker Origins of Antislavery and The Keithian Controversy in Early Pennsylvania.

Reviews

.,."The authors have done an excellent job of bringing the American Quaker landscape up to date."-Church History

?. . . The effort to place Quakers within the context of American culture--revivals, revolution, slavery and Civil War for example--are particularly helpful. The book concludes with an encyclopedia of prominent Quakers--a valuable reference tool. The authors . . . are able historians of the Quaker experience. This is a welcome study of Quaker history.?- Review and Expositor

?...The authors have done an excellent job of bringing the American Quaker landscape up to date.?- Church History

?From two professors of religion, a comprehensive history of the Society of Friends in the U.S. Barbour and Frost begin with American Quakerism's British antecedents, then follow the sect's movement into North America (where nearly half of the world's Quakers now live), its spread westward, and its opposition to slavery. The nineteenth-century division in American Quakerism and its twentieth-century reconciliation are also examined. The authors are careful to explain what Quakers believed at every stage of their development and how they organized their lives around the religious and social movements they fostered or fought against. The second part of this engaging book is a biographical dictionary of Quaker leaders.?- Reference Books Bulletin

?This book contains an excellent survey of the historical and theological development of American Quakerism with a sufficiently detailed account of the Society of Friends in general to make it valuable to British readers also. The sections on Quaker origins will be essential for those non-Quaker scholars who need an up to date summary of recent thought on the matter. It includes footnotes, maps and a helpful biographical supplement on leading American Quakers.," . . This reviewer regards it as a very important addition to Quaker history and believes it will be widely read and used for years to come. . .?- Theological Book Review The Journal of American History

?This volume is part of a series designed to provide readers with scholarly and current histories of major American denominations set within the broad context of social and cultural history. Frost (Swarthmore) and Barbour Earlham) are specialists in the history of the Society of Friends or Quakers. In the first part of this work, they sketch the English origins of the movement, devoting primary attention to the events and personalities that shaped the various branches of the American denomination. The second part of their book consists of biographical sketches of persons important in the development of Quakerism in America. Carefully researched and written, this volume should quickly replace older works- e.g., Howard Brinton's Friends for 300 Years and D. Elton Trueblood's The People Called Quakers-as the standard introduction to Quakerism for American readers. Although far from comprehensive, it has notes, and index, a chronological table, and a bibliographical essay to guide serious scholars in further investigations. This volume belongs in most college, university, and large public libraries.?- Choice

?This volume outlines the development of Quakerism from its seventeenth-century British origins to the multinational institution it is today. Focusing on anti-slavery activities and evangelical influences in doctrine and holiness of life, it demonstrates the complexities of Quaker doctrine and practice as they evolved on the American frontier in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These and other issues led to splits between Hicksites' and Orthodox, ' and further between Orthodox Gurneyites' and Wilburites' between 1827 and the Civil War. Further, it includes a useful biographical section on influential Quaker leaders . . . the book is a good general history of Quakers and QT akerism. It will serve the nonspecialist very well.?- Religious Studies Review

..."The authors have done an excellent job of bringing the American Quaker landscape up to date."-Church History

." . . The effort to place Quakers within the context of American culture--revivals, revolution, slavery and Civil War for example--are particularly helpful. The book concludes with an encyclopedia of prominent Quakers--a valuable reference tool. The authors . . . are able historians of the Quaker experience. This is a welcome study of Quaker history."-Review and Expositor

"From two professors of religion, a comprehensive history of the Society of Friends in the U.S. Barbour and Frost begin with American Quakerism's British antecedents, then follow the sect's movement into North America (where nearly half of the world's Quakers now live), its spread westward, and its opposition to slavery. The nineteenth-century division in American Quakerism and its twentieth-century reconciliation are also examined. The authors are careful to explain what Quakers believed at every stage of their development and how they organized their lives around the religious and social movements they fostered or fought against. The second part of this engaging book is a biographical dictionary of Quaker leaders."-Reference Books Bulletin

"This book contains an excellent survey of the historical and theological development of American Quakerism with a sufficiently detailed account of the Society of Friends in general to make it valuable to British readers also. The sections on Quaker origins will be essential for those non-Quaker scholars who need an up to date summary of recent thought on the matter. It includes footnotes, maps and a helpful biographical supplement on leading American Quakers. ." . . This reviewer regards it as a very important addition to Quaker history and believes it will be widely read and used for years to come. . ."-Theological Book Review The Journal of American History

"This volume outlines the development of Quakerism from its seventeenth-century British origins to the multinational institution it is today. Focusing on anti-slavery activities and evangelical influences in doctrine and holiness of life, it demonstrates the complexities of Quaker doctrine and practice as they evolved on the American frontier in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. These and other issues led to splits between Hicksites' and Orthodox, ' and further between Orthodox Gurneyites' and Wilburites' between 1827 and the Civil War. Further, it includes a useful biographical section on influential Quaker leaders . . . the book is a good general history of Quakers and QT akerism. It will serve the nonspecialist very well."-Religious Studies Review

"This volume is part of a series designed to provide readers with scholarly and current histories of major American denominations set within the broad context of social and cultural history. Frost (Swarthmore) and Barbour Earlham) are specialists in the history of the Society of Friends or Quakers. In the first part of this work, they sketch the English origins of the movement, devoting primary attention to the events and personalities that shaped the various branches of the American denomination. The second part of their book consists of biographical sketches of persons important in the development of Quakerism in America. Carefully researched and written, this volume should quickly replace older works- e.g., Howard Brinton's Friends for 300 Years and D. Elton Trueblood's The People Called Quakers-as the standard introduction to Quakerism for American readers. Although far from comprehensive, it has notes, and index, a chronological table, and a bibliographical essay to guide serious scholars in further investigations. This volume belongs in most college, university, and large public libraries."-Choice